What if Roadkill
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if they got a flat tire? Not a story about changing a tire. Characters from Dead Man's Blood, Sin City and Metamorphosis. Chapter 5 of 5 up.
1. Teaser

What if they had a flat tire on the way to the job?

Sam and Dean were on the way to their latest hunt, a highway haunted by two ghosts. Sam was driving and Dean was getting some sleep. Suddenly, he was jerked awake. "What happened?" he asked, bolting upright.

"I drove over something. I think we got a flat," Sam answered as he came to stop after swerving, quite a bit.

Dean rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wondered why ever let Sammy drive his baby. "You get the flat, you change it," Dean said.

"Fine, come hold the flashlight," Sam said.

They got out and headed back to the trunk. Sam dragged out the jack and the spare and started to change the tire. Dean rolled his eyes again. "This is going to take forever. Just let me do it." How did Sam get to be so useless around cars? Dean wondered. It's like he didn't learn anything from Dad.

Sam huffed and stood up and Dean bent down to do it. Suddenly it was dark. "Sam, can't you even hold the flashlight, right?" he asked, angrily. Getting no response, he got up and turned around. Sam was surrounded by six people. No, not people, Dean realized. He recognized a couple of them. They were the vampires from whom they had stolen the Colt. Dean reached into the still open trunk and grabbed a machete.

"Are you going to chop all of our heads off?" the head woman vampire asked. What was her name again? Kate, he remembered.

"That's the plan," Dean answered.

"Why don't you put that down before you hurt yourself," Kate suggested.

"I don't think so. Why don't you guys just take off before I hurt you," Dean countered.

"Let's see what was it Luther did before?" Kate asked the group at large.

"I remember," one of them said and pulled Sam to him and looped his arm around his throat. "Drop the blade, or I break his neck," he said as he tightened his grip.

"Yes, that's right," Kate said.

Dean put the machete on the ground and raised his hands up to show he was no threat.

"Back away from it," Kate ordered.

Dean took a couple of steps back. "Now, what?" he asked.

"We want our gun back," Kate said.

"We don't have it anymore," Dean said.

"You expect me to believe that? Where's the other one?"

"He's dead," Dean said, knowing she meant their father.

"Why don't you cut off a little more air?" Kate said to the vampire holding Sam. He smiled evilly and tightened his grip on Sam's throat even more and Sam started gasping, thinking he would never get enough air again.

"Stop, please!" Dean yelled. "He's dead."

"Then I guess we'll take our revenge out on him," Kate said and Dean heard the sickening snap of bone.

"NOOOOOO," he screamed, and started running to Sam.


	2. Dead Man's Blood

Dean jerked awake in the car as Sam was slamming on the brakes to avoid running over a woman.

"Stop!" she screamed and started banging on Sam's window. "Dean, I don't think she knows she's dead," Sam said as he began to roll down the window.

"No, Sam, keep driving," Dean said.

"What? Why? This is why we came here."

"There's something else we need to do," Dean said.

"What?" Sam asked. The ghost, Molly, was still banging on the window, probably wondering what conversation was more important than a hysterical woman you almost ran over banging on your window.

"Sam, drive away and I'll explain," Dean said, very distracted by the ghost.

Sam sighed and started driving. "What?" he asked again.

"We need to kill the rest of the vampires," Dean began.

"What vampires? What are you talking about?" Sam was confused. They hadn't seen any vampires for months and they weren't killing anyone.

"Kate and the rest of Luther's nest," Dean answered. "They're a threat to us."

"Where did this come from?" Sam asked. This had happened almost a year ago and they hadn't discussed that nest since.

"Sam, remember Dad told us that vampires keep your scent for life?"

"Yeah, but we haven't heard anything about them since," Sam pointed out.

"You know what they say. Revenge is best served cold. They're probably just biding their time. Better safe than sorry," Dean said, desperate to convince Sam of the need to take care of this threat. He wasn't sure himself why he was so adamant. It was just a dream—a nightmare—but it wasn't like he was psychic. It was just a dream. He should just keep telling himself that and go kill the two highway ghosts.

"We don't even know where they are," Sam was saying, "And we should finish the job we started. This one's only good for once a year."

"No, Sam, we're starting on this vampire hunt now," Dean said.

Sam was confused but he could tell this was really important to Dean. "OK, where do we start?" he asked.

"Let's go back to Manning. Maybe they set up shop there again," Dean suggested. He had read somewhere that not only do vampires mate for life, but they like to stay in the same area. Vampires were big on roots.

"OK," Sam said and took the next turn to start heading west.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Next Day

"So, why didn't you want to go directly to Manning? We're like 80 miles away?" Sam asked again.

"I told you. We don't want them catching our scent before we're ready," Dean said.

"And why are we just hanging out in the hotel room?"

"Because, we're going to rest up today, and go after them tomorrow," Dean explained patiently. "I'm going to go grab some food, what do you want?"

"Salad," Sam answered.

Dean rolled his eyes and left. He pulled out his phone as soon as he was out of sight of the room and called Bobby.

"Hello?" Bobby answered.

"You guys are going to be in Manning tomorrow morning, right?" Dean confirmed.

"Yep, me, Travis, and, Richie will meet you there and we'll go on this vampire hunt," Bobby promised.

"Richie? Come on, he's not very good," Dean said, remembering the hunter he had met a few years ago on a succubus hunt. The idiot had almost gotten him killed. He liked the guy, but didn't know if he was up for vampire hunting with him.

"That's all I could get on such short notice. What's the hurry anyway?" Bobby asked. Dean had called him yesterday and told him to get as many hunters as he could to Manning, Colorado for a vampire hunt. Said it was urgent and that was about it.

"We killed half their nest and I figured we should take care of the rest."

"That's always a good policy," Bobby agreed. Fifteen years ago, he had killed half a vampire next and five years ago they had come hunting him. Luckily, John and Dean had been visiting and between the three of them they had been able to take care of the rest of them. "So, we'll see you and Sam tomorrow?"

"Sam's sitting this one out," Dean said as he pulled up to the diner to get food.

"Why?" Bobby asked, confused. The boys usually hunted together.

"He just is, OK? I gotta go," Dean hung up.

"Idgits," Bobby said into the dead phone.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Next Day

"Sam, you go get some dead man's blood and I'm going to get some arrows and sharpen our machetes," Dean ordered.

"So, you know where they are?" Sam asked.

"I know." Dean said. Dean could see that Sam knew he was hiding something. "Trust me," he said.

Sam nodded and left on foot. A few minutes later, Dean hopped in the Impala and headed over to Manning to meet the other hunters. By tonight, the rest of that nest would be dead and Sam would be safe.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sam snuck into the morgue and opened one of the units. He grabbed his knife and a jar and set to work on collecting the blood they would need to subdue the vampires. He had just finished filling the jar when he heard, "May I help?" from a man's voice behind him.

"Um," Sam began. "I'm in med school and I have permission to collect some blood samples," he said. Even he knew how lame that excuse was. This was not exactly how you went about collecting a blood sample.

"With a knife and a jar?" the man in the lab coat asked dubiously.

"Um, yeah. I like to do things my own way," Sam said as he backed up to the door. He pushed a cart filled with medical instruments at the man and ran. By the time, the man had pushed the table off of himself, Sam was halfway down the street. The man pulled out a cell phone. "Kate, it's James. A guy was just in here stealing blood."

"That can only mean one thing. Hunters." Kate said.

"Yeah, he got away, but I have his scent."

"Great find out where he is. I'm on my way and I'll call you when I'm close so you can tell me where you are."

"OK," Matt agreed and headed out. They had all agreed as a nest a couple of years before that one of them should get a job. Their food was free of course, but sometimes they needed money for clothes, cars, beer, mostly beer. Since James had been a doctor before becoming a vampire, they had decided a job in the morgue would be perfect for him. It was mostly nights, although today he had pulled a day shift. It had the extra benefit of knowing if anyone was looking for dead man's blood. A sure sign hunters were in town.

Sam looked back a couple of times to make sure nobody was following him. He didn't see anybody and he didn't hear any sirens, so he thought maybe he was in the clear.

A/N: OK, so technically it should have been what if Dean fell asleep, but that would have given it away.


	3. Surprise Party

"You guys bring the dead man's blood?" Dean asked Bobby and Travis when he pulled up next to them in the abandoned field.

"Yep, got it right here," Bobby said, pulling out a jar.

"When's Richie getting here?" Travis had no sooner finished asking the question when Richie's '75 VW bug pulled in.

"I still can't believe there's a hunter driving that car. If this doesn't prove he's not a fit for the job, I don't know what does," Dean said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, ready to go kill some vampires?" Richie asked, getting out of his car.

"I've told you before, Richie, you're not cut out for this job. You're going to get yourself killed," Dean said. He would feel awful if it happened on this job.

"Winchester, I've been hunting for five years and I haven't bought it yet. So, I must be doing something right, right?" Richie said, wondering why Dean was always so down on him.

"Let's go," Dean said. He didn't want to argue now. The sooner they killed these vampires, the better.

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

Matt walked up to the hotel parking lot a few minutes after Sam got there. He took a good whiff and knew exactly what room the blood stealer was in. He decided to get his own room while he waited for Kate. He was glad that the day was overcast. It meant there would not be much discomfort for him and Kate out during the day.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The four hunters snuck up to the abandoned warehouse where the vampires were holed up. It was daytime so they should be sleeping, but vampires were not always considerate in that regard. Dean went up to the window and peaked in. He saw six vampires sleeping in hammocks.

"There's six of them," he whispered to the others.

"Four against six. No problem," Richie said.

Dean didn't like his cavalier attitude and hoped it didn't get them all killed. "You and Bobby go in the back. Travis and I will go through the front," Dean said and they split up. A few minutes later they were all in place and stealthily entering the building. Dean and Travis headed towards the two closest to them and Richie and Bobby went to the two vampires closes to them. Dean nodded and as one they each hacked off a vampire's head. The two remaining vampires woke up immediately. Taking in the situation, they decided they were outnumbered and ran.

"You guys go after them, we'll wait here to see if any other vampires show up," Dean said, knowing that if nobody was here when vampires returned, then they would take off and wouldn't be easy to find again. Plus, Kate wasn't here. She was the one they really had to worry about.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Matt, where are you?" Kate said when she called him.

"I'm at the motel two blocks from the morgue," he answered.

"OK, I 'll be there in a few minutes," she said and hung up.

When she pulled into the hotel parking lots, she smelled two scents familiar to her. One was that of Matt. The other was a human that she had come across before. She thought back to remember who. She was just approaching Matt's door when she realized who it was. It was one of those hunters who had stolen Elkins' Colt and killed Luther. She only smelled one, though. She wondered where the other two were.

Matt opened the door. "Kate, I could have taken this guy on my own," he said, not for the first time questioning Kate's orders to never take on a hunter alone.

"No, you know the rules. Besides, I don't want to kill this hunter. He was one of three who killed my Luther. The other two aren't here, at least not now. I want to use this one to get the other two. If we kill him they'll just come after us. This way, we get them all together and then kill them," Kate planned.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Bobby and Richie chased the two vampires into the woods, but they were fast and soon they had lost sight of them. "OK, we don't want them alerting the rest of the nest, so you go that way and I'll go this way," Bobby instructed.

Richie nodded and they both headed in opposite directions, hoping they could find the vampires fast.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sam was wondering what was taking Dean so long. He was only supposed to be out buying arrows. He grabbed his phone and called him. "Dean," he said when he answered the phone, "where are you?"

"I ran into some other hunters and we decided to go after the vampires," Dean lied. He didn't want Sam knowing that he had planned to go hunting the vamps without him all along.

"Without me?" Sam asked, wondering if he had done something to piss Dean off.

"I didn't think you'd mind. You haven't seemed to be all that into vampire hunting since we ran into Lenore and her nest," Dean reminded him.

"I'm not into hunting vampires who don't kill people. We know these vampires kill people," Sam started to argue, but then realized he didn't want to. What difference did it make now? "So, did you get them?"

"Well, we got all but two of them that were here. Unfortunately, Kate wasn't here. We're going to wait for her."

"Tell me where you are and I'll come help," Sam said.

"No, Sammy, you're better off where you are. If you got here at the same time it would tip them off. Kind of like coming late to a surprise party."

"Dean," Sam started.

"I said no, Sam. I have to go."

Sam hung up and stared at his phone for a couple of minutes before returning it to his pocket. Dean was acting very strange lately. He was shaken out of his reverie by a loud crash and looked up to see the door flying in towards him.


	4. Roadtrip

Sam hung up and stared at his phone for a couple of minutes before returning it to his pocket. Dean was acting very strange lately. He was shaken out of his reverie by a loud crash and looked up to see the door flying in towards him. He ducked out of the way and was grabbed by a pair of strong arms from behind. In front of him was Kate. Why was she here? How had she found him? She shouldn't have been able to pick up his scent from that far away.

"So, are you hunting me?" she asked.

Sam didn't answer, but struggled against his captor. He saw Kate bring up a needle and felt it as she jabbed it into his arm. "What was that he asked?" but if she answered he didn't hear her, because as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he was descending into darkness.

"Should we take him back to the nest or wait here for his friends to show up?" Matt asked.

"The nest," Kate answered. "We should have this showdown on our own turf. Plus, we'll have the rest of the family to help us."

Matt grabbed the sheet off one of the beds and ripped it into strips. He tied Sam's hands behind his back and his feet together and then stuffed a gag in his mouth and a blindfold over his eyes. He then took the rest of the sheet and looped it around his neck to make a leash.

"Why bother with the blindfold?" Kate asked. "He already knows who we are and we're going to kill him anyway."

"More scary if he can't see when he wakes up," Matt answered. Kate had told him how these guys had hunted down and killed Luther and as far as he was concerned, they deserved all the punishment he could muster up. Although, in a way, he felt he kind of owed them. He was falling in love with Kate and if Luther were still around he wouldn't have a shot. She was still in mourning, but he could tell it wouldn't be long before she would be receptive to taking a new mate.

"Good thinking," she was answering him now. "We'd better hurry before the cops show up."

Matt lifted up Sam like he was a bag of feathers and threw him into the back of Kate's car. Kate grabbed Sam's machete that had been lying on the table. She would love to kill him with the weapon he planned to use on her and her family. They had been driving ten minutes when Sam's phone rang.

"Interesting," Kate said and decided to answer it. She reached back into the backseat and Sam's pocket and pulled out his phone. She just lifted it up to her ear, but didn't say anything.

"Sam?" she heard. "Sam, are you there?"

She recognized this voice. She had once heard it saying, "I usually draw the line at necrophilia." Yes, this was definitely one of the three.

"Sam's taking a nap right now," she answered.

Dean's blood ran cold when he heard that voice. He recognized that voice. "Kate?" he whispered.

"That's right," she answered. "Where's your other friend?"

"Not here," Dean answered. "Let me talk to Sam."

"I told you he's taking a nap. I'll call you in an hour and tell you where you and your other friend can meet us. We'll exchange Sam for the Colt." And with that she hung up.

"You're going to trade him?" Matt asked.

"No way. But they'll be more likely to meet us if they think we're going to trade than if they think we're just going to kill them when they show up," Kate pointed out logically.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Richie saw one of the vampires at the edge of the woods. "Hey, where's your friend" he asked.

"Right behind you," the vampire answered.

Richie turned around and was immediately set upon by the other vampire. Soon both vampires were feeding on him and Bobby heard Richie's screams from about a mile away. He ran towards the sound.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"What's going on?" Travis asked Dean.

"The vampires have Sam," Dean answered.

"How did that happen? I thought he was 80 miles away from here."

"He was. I just talked to him a little while ago. I don't know how they found him. I don't think they know what we've done to their nest, though," Dean said.

"Well, what's the plan?" Travis asked. He'd known Sam since he was a geeky mathlete, and there was no way he was going to let anything happen to him.

"We wait here. They'll show," Dean said and pulled out his machete, imagining what he would do that vampire who dared to take his brother.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Bobby managed to take one of the vampires by surprise. They were so intent on feeding on Richie they didn't hear him approach. The other vampire was just rearing back for an attack when Bobby managed to swing his machete and decapitate him also. Unfortunately, it was too late for Richie, who lay dead and mostly drained of blood, on the ground. Bobby began to build a funeral pyre. Hunter's code stated that you burned a hunter without delay. He would burn Richie, and the vampires, and then return to the nest.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

When they were about 5 miles away from the nest, Kate and Matt heard Sam begin to stir. He was clearly trying to untie himself. "I've got 200 years of knot tying experience. You don't stand a chance," Matt said and laughed.

"Don't worry. It will all be over soon. You and your two friends will be dead and Luther will be avenged," Kate said.

Two friends? Sam thought. What is she talking about? Are there others here with me? Then he felt the car come to a stop.

"One of them is already here. I can smell him. There's also another human, probably a hunter," Kate said.

"What should we do?" Matt asked.

"Well, we smelled them soon enough and stopped the car so that I don't think they heard it in there. We'll bring him and walk in and surprise them," Kate said and she leaned back to untie Sam's feet. Matt took the machete from her and held it to Sam's neck. "Don't try anything," he said.

Sam didn't answer. He wasn't going to nod with the blade right up against his throat and he was gagged so he couldn't answer verbally. The one thing he understood for sure was that wherever they were, Dean was inside and didn't know they were coming.


	5. Standoff

Matt got out of the car and opened the back door. Pulling Sam out, he pulled him in front of him and placed the machete as his throat. Kate grabbed the other end of his leash and the three of them slowly made their way to the warehouse. Sam wasn't sure how far away they were from Dean and decided to try to warn him. He let out a muffled yell, and Matt quickly tightened the machete and drew blood. "Try that again and I'll slice straight through," he whispered in Sam's ear.

"I don't think they heard that," Kate whispered. And they continued their slow walk, with Sam remaining silent but breathing heavily.

When they reached the door, Kate nodded at Matt and opened the door. Matt then quickly went in with Sam still held tightly in front of him.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Dean thought he heard something. "Did you hear that?" he asked Travis.

"Not sure," Travis answered.

Before they had a chance to investigate further the door opened and they saw a vampire holding Sam.

"Sam!" Dean yelled.

"Mmph," Sam answered back.

Kate then entered the room. "Where's the other one?" she asked. "I know this isn't him," she said, indicating Travis.

"He's dead," Dean answered.

"What about the Colt?" Kate asked. She actually believed him about the other one being dead. There was a catch to his voice when he said it.

"We don't have it anymore," Dean answered.

"Am I supposed to believe that?" Kate asked.

"It's true," Dean said, shrugging, trying to figure out a way to get to Sam, before his jugular was cut.

"Doesn't matter. We'll just kill the three of you," Kate said, maliciously.

Kate approached Travis and when the older hunter raised his machete to defend himself, Kate grabbed it away and stabbed him with it. "No," Dean shouted, but Matt stopped his movement by threatening Sam. Concentrating on the scene before him, he didn't hear Bobby enter from behind. With one swift movement, Bobby managed to decapitate Matt and avoid Sam at the same time. Kate turned around and yanked on Sam's leash. He fell to the floor with a grunt and Kate swung Travis's machete towards him. Dean was faster, though and used his own machete to dispatch Kate.

Sam didn't know what was happening. He couldn't see anything, but he definitely heard a fight going on. He felt himself being pulled up and tried to pull away. "Shh, it's OK. It's me," Dean said, as he removed Sam's blindfold. Sam blinked against the light and felt Dean removing his gag. Bobby was behind him untying his hands.

"Where's Richie?" Dean asked Bobby.

"Didn't make it," Bobby answered.

Dean was quiet. He had always told Richie he wasn't cut out for this job, but certainly hadn't wanted to be proven right. They took the vampires and Travis out back and burned the bodies. Travis separately from the vampires.

"So, why were you guys all around this area?" Sam asked Bobby.

"What are you talking about? Dean called us to help with this vampire hunt," Bobby answered.

"Dean, I thought you said you ran into them by accident," Sam asked Dean, confused. Had he planned on keeping him out of the hunt all along.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, Sam. I just didn't want you involved in this hunt. I thought it was too dangerous," Dean explained lamely. He didn't know why, but he still didn't want to tell Sam about his dream.

Sam was silent. Did Dean not trust his hunting abilities? He decided not to push it. To the best of his knowledge Dean had never shut him out of a hunt before. As long as it didn't happen again he was willing to let this one slide.

"Well, I've got to get going. You boys need help again, don't hesitate to call," Bobby said as he got in his car.

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean said. Sam and Dean then went to the Impala.

"We can't go back to our hotel," Sam said. "The vampires messed it up pretty bad."

"Great," Dean said and headed the other direction.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

That night, Dean woke up to an odd sound. He opened his eyes and saw Sam standing by the window. "What are you doing, Sammy?" he asked.

Sam turned around and fangs descended. He lunged towards Dean. Dean realized that the vampires must have turned him. As Sam bent down to go for the kill, Dean sprang up and Sam was gone. He looked over to the other bed. Sam was sleeping. He had been dreaming again. He got up and walked over to Sam's bed and put his hand on his neck to feel for a pulse. There it was, strong and regular and Dean breathed a sigh of relief. Sam woke up. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just making sure you weren't turned into a vampire," Dean admitted. "You were alone with them a while. It could have happened."

"Don't you think I would have attacked you by now?"Sam countered. "What's going on with you?"

"I've been having weird dreams," Dean finally admitted. "I had a dream about Kate coming after you to use you to get Dad and the Colt. Then it happened."

"Well, it only happened because we went after her," Sam pointed out.

"True. But I just had a dream that they turned you into a vampire."

"Well, we know that didn't happen, so I think you can stop worrying about your dreams coming true. One psychic in the family is enough," Sam said.

"Too much," Dean muttered under his breath.

Sam heard him but decided to pretend he didn't. "Good night," he said and lay back down.

Dean stood over him, watching him for a minute and then he, too, went back to bed. The rest of the night was dreamless, just the way he liked it.

The End


End file.
